UPDATE 6-1-15 Problem with FasTrack

Add a power feed to that area.

Make separate blocks with power to each.

Fastrack is easy to wire.  The trick is to find the connectors.  I went to an electrical supply company and ordered what I needed.  You want the .110 size.  I added a drop to every forth section of track and connected everything together with terminal blocks.  You could replace the three 10" sections with one 30" and eliminate some of the connections.  I'm going to guess that your problem is in the short sections of track.  The 1 3/8 , 1 3/4  and 5"sections don't have tabs for power drops.  Split those three up between the 10" sections and add more power drops where you can. 

Ritchie,

 

 As others have said, if you haven't already, add more power feeds.

 

Even on my simple 6x8 loop, I have four power feeds on the loop.  Before that, I would get a slow down at the farthest point from the one power feed.

 

Jmiller is correct with the .110 connectors for the underside track connections.

 

 

If you're in an immediate bind, your LHS may carry the accessory power feeds that have the .110 already connected to the wire.

will do....

 

But did we NOT have this issue with the Old O tracks??

I hate to be the devils advocate,but are you limited on space?Your going to get bored quickly with this configuration.Fastrak does not eliminate the need for multiple power feeds.Good luck.Nick

Ritchie, when I started building last Christmas I discovered that sometimes the connector tabs on the fastrack needed a little tightening from underneath (especially the middle hot one), or a slight roughening up and then cleaning with alcohol on the surface.   This was especially true on the short pieces.  I also had a couple of the tabs break (Godzilla (aka as grandson) had stepped on the track when it was around the tree.)    A simple continuity tester helped to pin-point the trouble spots. 

 

In my 9'x5' double-loop, three spur layout I have 8 drops, and get 18V on the tester everywhere... 

For that size layout you really don't need all these power feeds, that's overkill.  Fastrack has a common issue with connections between tracks.  Lionel did a video that basically says to slightly bend the center pin TOWARDS the rail with the outer pin.  That will eliminate your connection issue.  Just bend them only slightly.  They are made of pot metal not solid metal and will break off if you try and bend them too far.  Do that on each track and your connections will be fine.  You can also just run a wire between each piece having the issue since all fastrack has terminals on the bottom to make connections.  Saves a lot of wire than doing feeds.

I would suspect the 90° crossover. Can you take a photo of the bottom and post it?

 

If you have a set of jumpers with alligator clips, try jumping the underside of 90 common (outside rail) from one side of the center to the other.

 

I think you'll find that the center rail has a plate under the tabs connecting it.

 

One feed should power that track plan.

Found out the hardway about this piece of track, good advice

 

Brent

All the suggestions above will work. Good luck lets us know how you make out.

All you need is a jumper in one of the curves in that area.  It is one wire.  I think you can handle that.  Good luck!

STEP 1:

I bent ALL of the center rail pins as shown in the Lionel video (see previous post)

very little improvement

STEP 2:

Added the additional power connection.

AGAIN.... a little bit more improvement

FINAL STEP 3:

Replaced 3 straights with 1 30" &

then cut the power on one short section

FUNCTIONS 100% NOW!!!

Add a couple more.  Are you connecting the power drops to the tabs under the track with the right size connectors?  I would add one at the bottom track in the picture, one in the center section and one at the top.

Right now it is 100% powered.

Not adding anything else at this time....

if you are still curious, you may want to take the 3-10" sections and connect them directly to one of your TIU channels to see if one of the track joints was the cause of your signal strength problems. I had to bend many center and outside pins to get the right connection "friction" to give me a good signal strength on the layout.

 

Glad you have things working properly: Joe K

Great news Ritchie.  I was typing my last comment while you were posting yours.  Glad you got it figured out.

Spent time this weekend taking a couple of spurs off the main power bus and adding power switches so that they could be turned off (LC, LC+ locomotives).   Two 5" piece sections gave me headaches.   Not sure what material was used to make the outside connector pieces on these two little pieces of track, but swear it wouldn't conduct electricity.  Had the soldering iron going for other things, so ended up soldering little jumper wires underneath--problem solved.  I guess there is "pot metal", and then there is "no metal" ...